Ugonna Okegwo

Ugonna Okegwo is one of the most distinctive and sought-after jazz bassists in the world. Critics across the globe have praised him for his rich tone, supple sense of swing, stylistic range and inventiveness. These qualities have not only earned him a place on the bandstand with jazz legends as diverse as Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Pharoah Sanders and Joseph Jarman--they have established him as one of the leading lights of a younger generation redefining jazz for the new century. "He is very individualistic, both in his soloing and accompanying. I love the way he plays in the ensemble,�� says Tom Harrell, with whom Okegwo has worked for several years

Re Up

By Greg Skaff

Label: Soulmation Records
Released: 2024
Track listing: Faith; Green Chimneys; No Cover; Swerve; Peace Place" (trio) Reach Down Deep; Fleurette Africaine; Re Up; Southern Pacific; Peace Place" (solo).

Pete Malinverni: Invisible Cities

by Thomas Conrad
August 7, 2024

They call it “the Calvino Effect." It is the fascination that Italo Calvino's unclassifiable, elusive literary works exert over artists in other media. Calvino's Invisible Cities contains unseen cities of the imagination that have inspired many paintings. It contains silent cities of dreams that have provoked much music. In Calvino's novel, Marco Polo tells ...

Faith

July 7, 2024

Album: Re Up
By Greg Skaff
Label: Soulmation Records
Released: 2024
Duration: 03:40

Pete Malinverni Trio Celebrating Leonard Bernstein at Chris�� Jazz Caf��

by Victor L. Schermer
May 28, 2024

Pete Malinverni Trio Celebrating Leonard Bernstein Chris' Jazz Caf�� Philadelphia, PA May 18, 2024 In 2022, pianist Pete Malinverni released a trio recording, On the Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts Recordings). Just last year, Bradley Cooper's biopic about Leonard Bernstein, Maestro (Netflix, ...

Christine Jensen, Sonny Clark, Nina Simone and Others

by Jerome Wilson
February 7, 2024

This episode, as usual, goes all over the jazz landscape with current names like Christine Jensen and Marius Neset as well as classic figures of the past such as Sonny Clark and Nina Simone. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry ...

Like Minds

By Wayne Escoffery

Label: Smoke Sessions Records
Released: 2023
Track listing: Like Minds; Nostalgia in Times Square; Sincerely Yours; My Truth; Rivers of Babylon; Song of Serenity; Treasure Lane; Idle Moments; Shuffle.

Electric Miles 2

By Charles Pillow Large Ensemble

Label: Summit/Mama
Released: 2023
Track listing: It��s about that time; Rated X; Shhh/Peaceful; Great Expectations; Yaphet; Agharta; Willie Nelson.

Charles Pillow Large Ensemble Set To Release 'Electric Miles 2' on October 6th

August 25, 2023

Charles Pillow Large Ensemble Electric Miles 2 The follow-up to acclaimed saxophonist/arranger Charles Pillow��s, ��Electric Miles�� , one of NPR��s top ten CD��s for 2018, is a further exploration of Miles Davis�� early electric period, 1969-74, arranged for a large jazz ensemble. This time Pillows�� arrangements add 3 french horns in addition to the usual big ...

Wayne Escoffery: Like Minds

by Dave Linn
June 21, 2023

Wayne Escoffery was born in London and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. He began playing the saxophone at the age of 11, later studying at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In the late 1990s, Escoffery started gaining recognition on the jazz scene with ...